Being selected for the challenge is a great privilege, with allocated funding supporting the world-class skills development of students in South Africa.
- Gain experience in maturing the learner’s selected medical device through different stages of industrialisation;
- Build extended skill sets, that are critical to industrialisation success and may currently not be part of the formal academic curriculum (e.g. market research, business planning etc.);
- Gain broader medical device sector expertise through the three courses provided;
- Get exposure to non-academic stakeholders such as industry players to understand different perspectives and be better prepared for post-academic (self-)employment; and
- Participate in a multi-stakeholder process of having their solution selected and competing for scarce resources.
This means that students, who have successfully completed the ViroVent challenge, will not only be more skilled to successfully master the task of medical device industrialisation – but also boost their chances of success as entrepreneurs or as job seekers in the industry.